Passenger

Chapter 20

I looked back in equal parts amazement and horror as the bridge was severed by Sarah's attack, falling into the ravine. "what the hell, Sarah?" I shouted, whirling around to glare at her. "you just cut off your way off too, you idiot! What are you thinking?"

"I don't she is, Rachel." Krys murmured, as Sarah began to attack Neb again. "look at her. She's so angry right now that she's not thinking about anything else."

As Neb countered Sarah's attack, I turned to watch my old friend. Krys was right. She had an almost enraged look in her eyes as she attacked, teeth bared in a similar fashion to Neb's own snarl.

The realization of why she was furious hit me next. "oh god. She's getting angry because of Rose." I murmured. "because of me. Ugh, if I could talk to her, I could do something about this!"

Krys didn't have a good answer, and neither did I. we could only watch as Neb slashed at Sarah again, the blow glancing off her shoulder plate. Sarah grunted and staggered, but quickly retaliated, slashing with the axe in her off hand. the blow caught Neb in the side, forcing him back towards the bridge.

As I watched them fight, it was clear that Neb was outmatched. He had a strength and size advantage, that was for certain, but he wasn't a trained fighter – Sarah was. And as the Royal Guard captain, she had fought many monsters larger than herself, so this kind of fight wasn't going to be new to her. If things kept up like this, it wasn't going to end well.

I turned back to Krys. "you need to help Neb."

"w-what?" Krys looked at me. "how?"

"I don't know, but if you don't do something, Neb is going to end up dead!" I hissed. "I get that you don't want to fight, but right now you don't have a choice!"

Krys put a hand to his head. "no. I...I can't."

Behind me, I heard a snarl of pain from Neb. I grimaced. "listen to me, Krys!" I snapped. "you have to do something, understand? You have to help Neb!"

"I..." Krys squeezed his eyes shut. Was he afraid? "I can't! Rachel, I can't!"

My response was to unleash a long string of curses that I won't repeat here. "why do you have to be such an idiot?" I shouted at him, turning back to Neb and Sarah.

The two had inched closer to the edge of the canyon, and now it was clear that Neb was fighting a losing battle. The Gnoll wasn't faltering, however, and was fighting with everything he had to push Sarah back.

My fists clenched in anger. I felt helpless. I could do nothing to help anyone, do nothing to stop this. If I could only fight! If I was alive, if I had my spear – if I was just there in general! – I could stop this!

But I couldn't. all I could do was watch, helplessly, as Neb was beaten back further and further towards the edge of the cliff. Stumbling and trying to get his footing, Neb looked over at Krys. "run!" he shouted. "get out of here, now!"

Krys didn't move. He looked rooted to the spot, and now it was obviously out of fear. I floated down to his face. "you heard him! Run!"

That sprung him into action. Moving away from the ruined bridge, Krys started running back towards the road away from the ravine. Sarah spotted him as he did, glaring at him. "where do you think you're going, Avian?" she shouted, before raising an axe glowing with Red Magic to hurl it at him –

Only to be tackled by Neb. The full weight of his body caused Sarah to stumble to the side, and the blow went wide, whistling past Krys and slamming into a rock behind him, kicking up dust. Krys grimaced and shielded his eyes as Sarah cursed and turned to grapple Neb, trying to force him back. This time, however, Neb had the upper hand – he had both arms around Sarah's torso, and now he could fully utilize his full size and strength against her. But an advantage like that wasn't going to be given to him for long. My guess was that he had maybe a couple seconds to make a move.